Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1887-04-21
BILLY KISsANE.
Interesting Incidents in the Life
of a Somewhat Remark
able Man.
His Adventures I'm Cincinnati, New
York, Nicaragua, and Cali
fOrnia.

1t is now about sixty-two years since
Billy" Kissane was born to increase the
distress of poor Irish family. Exactly
how or when he crossed the Atlantic has
not yet been made public, but somewhere in
the '3Os lie turned up in Canada. He did
not stay there long, for within the next dec
ade 10 made his appearance in Cincinnati.
1t was at the latter place that BILLY" Kis-
sane engaged in the plot to burn the steam
er Maltha Washington and collect an enor-
nous insurance upon fictitious cargo OF
lard and other freight shipped in barrels
as brandy. The steamer, bound from Ctn-
cinnati to New Orleans, was burned near
Helena, Ark, on the night of January IA,
1862. There we've eighteen lives lost, but
enough of the cargo was thrown overheard
and saved to expose the plot that had
caused such a horrible loss of life, and
Kissane and Hubbard, the clerk of the
boat, were arrested and tried in Ohio for
the murder. The Ohio courts declined to
assume jurisdiction over "A crime committed
in Arkansas, and Ki,sane was carried to
Helena. There the prosecution fell through
for want of funds after several attempts
had been made to kill Sidney G.. Burton,
the principal witness against the prisoners.
Kissane was next heard of in New York,
where in August, 1854, he was arrested,
convicted, and sentenced 10 Sing Sing for
forgeries on the Chemical Bank of that
city. Between his escape from the clutches
of the law in Helena and falling into them
again in New York he must have visited
Cleveland, Ohio, where thirty-four years
ago he married lady, who is still living.
The couple lived together five months,
when he left her, and after his departure
plates of 81 and So bank notes We're all
that she could find among his effects TO re-
member him by. The deserted wife pro-
cured q divorce and secured 81 900 ali
mony, which she may collect nowif Rogers
proves to be her long-lost husband. A
daughter of Kissane still lives in Cleveland.
She has never seen her father, but If the
wealthy Californian should be he she will
be an heiress in spite of all his wander
ings and his wife and children in the
Sonoma valley.
Before the expiration of his sentence
Kissane was pardoned out Of Sing Sing
upon condition that he would testify in the
insurance cases growing out of the burn
ing of the Martha Washington. He made
O written confession of his share in that
horror, but upon his release he violated
his promise to the insurance companies
and fled to Nicaragua, where under an as
sumed name it was reported he was shot.
The efforts of Burton to bring the KiSsane
gang to justice provoked its deadly hatred.
He was said to have spent $50, GOO and
travelled 1900 miles in his task of hunt
ing down the Kissane conspiratorS, but ac-
cording to the report they finally got the
best of him by poison. Every moveme Mt
of Burton in the United Stutes and Cam
ada was dogged 0y the emissaries Of Kis-
sane until in the fall of 1876 they succeed
ed i'll smuggling a subtle poison into his
food that ate away one of his lungs, so
that he died in terrible agony in December
of that year.
Thirty-two years ago Billy Kissane dis
appeared from view. Whether he had gone
to Brazil or to Nicaragua or the north pole
no one appeared to know. The insurance
companies could not find him; his associ-
ates did not want to find him. The less
known about his whereabouts the better it
was for them. They covered his disap-
pearance completely.
1t was in the year 1855 that the black
sombrero of the famous filbuster chief,
the "gray-eyed man of Destiny" Walker,
led his troop of dark -browed, bearded adj
yenturers upon his wonderful, daring, and
cruel ride through Nicaragua.
With Walker in that band rode one Col.
w. X. Rogers. He was one of the bravest.
OF him ID. i. Wolf, well-known Califor-
nian, says: II have known him intimately
for thirty-one years. We were together
with Walker in Nicaragua, and lie stood
like lion where bullets flew thickest. He
became the Minister of the Interior under
Walker, and was one of the men chosen by
our chief to accompany him on the United
States vessel when the fates went against
the United States"
Thirty years ago "Col." Rogers parted
company with his chief, whose heart was
black and whose hands were red" at Pana-
ma, and sailed for California, where he ar
ived in due time. and where he began q
new life. According to his friend Wolf,
he had not cent when he landed. But il
Is scarcely to be credited that Col.
Rogers, who subsequently developed such
financial shrewdness, wasted all his oppor-
tunities as Walkers minister of haciendas,
and left Nicaragua empty-handed. At all
even 8, he begun his career OH the
4 Pacific slope as merchant in Sacra-
mento, subsequently turned his attention to
the Comstock mines, and now lives in pros
porous case on q rich Sonoma ranch. About
twenty years ago "Col." Rogers married O
beautiful young lady, twenty years his
junior, who is the sister-in law of Lloyd
Tevis, once partner Of Haggin, the mill
ionaire horse breeder. He is also half
,Nr.of Reuben Lloyd, one of the mos